For the last few months I've had a love affair with Crystal light. It started this summer with the Pom-tini flavor. I was so sad when I learned that Pom-tini was only a seasonal temporary flavor. However, I quickly discovered that Cherry Pomegranate was just as good. I took my water to work, but I drank copious amounts of crystal light at home and on the weekends. I did purchase some small packets of crystal light (the kind that goes into bottles) for work for those days when water just doesn't cut it. I thought I was doing great. I was drinking LOTS of liquids. It was nothing for me to drink a pitcher of crystal light a day, and on weekends when I was home, sometimes two! Yet, I always woke up dying of thirst (when I drinking enough water I'm not that way) and while there were no signs, I just have felt deeply that the Crystal Light Habit needed to be checked. Today I decided to look into it. I always vaguely knew that Crystal light had aspartame, and I always vaguely knew what aspartame does to the body...but here is nice simple description....it is from the Livestrong Website...
One of the criticisms of using aspartame-sweetened foods for weight loss is that the sweet taste still tricks the brain into thinking it's hungry. This hypothesis would lead to a triggered effect in the body that would release digestive enzymes and insulin, actually increasing hunger cues and potentially causing a person to eat more. But consistently, past research did not draw this conclusion. Scientists studying this issue saw that consuming aspartame did not increase insulin, increase appetite, or increase eating and drinking more calories overall.
Despite this previous evidence, two new research studies from the Texas Health Science Center paint a different picture. They showed that the waistlines of people who drank diet soft drinks increased 70 percent more than people who didn't drink diet soda. They saw that people who drank diet drinks had a greater likelihood to be overweight. The blame is placed on the brain triggers instigated by the sweet, calorie-less taste experience. Two other recent brain studies demonstrated this effect, showing that the body does seek out calories after eating no-calorie sweeteners such as aspartame
So while I have a pitcher of Crystal Light in my fridge (and more to make) I will be limiting my intake and focusing on my water. Oh yeah, Diet soda? You are also on the way out. I've gone without many times before and I find that I don't miss you (and actually like going out to eat and saving the couple bucks by ordering a water!). I know that the first few days will be difficult, but water really is so much more refreshing! (in fairness, I didn't always think so...but I grew to LOVE it!)
I am 16.7 miles into my virtual trip cross the united states. :-) I'm making use of that exercise bike that is in the living room! :-)
